About

At a glance

About

The LICOT-WASO project is concerned with the scientific research of life courses of people with disabilities. Guiding questions of life course theory will be used as framework to analyse the situation of people with disabilities in West African societies. Above all, the findings will be discussed in the framework of inclusive development and implications for social protection programs and social systems such as health, education and other related fields. In doing so, explicit reference will be made to the provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD) and to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015.

Objectives

Phase 1 of the project aims at gaining scientific knowledge about the developmental tasks and transitions of people with disabilities between the life phases of childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, adulthood and old age. The project will established a social science research group at the University of Ghana / Legon, which closely cooperates with a research group of the Centre for Planning and Development of Social Services (ZPE) at the University of Siegen. The West African research group includes eight junior researchers (PhD students) who conduct projects on various aspects of life course transitions and trajectories of people with disabilities in different sectors and fields of West African societies. Based on the findings of the first phase, phase 2 will focus on the transitions of persons with disabilities from tertiary education to the labour market. In this context, research is conducted and a training programme for universities and labour market representatives will be developed.